Lisa, et al.
Three questions:
1.) It has been mentioned previously on the board that following a myectomy your risk of sudden death decreases dramatically. Apparently this was discussed at the annual meeting and was included in a paper given by one of our specialists. Could you provide a specific reference to this material, whether it be from meeting notes or the actual study from which this finding has been derived? I have been unable to locate the source material myself.
2.) To address in part a question previously asked by Michael Obrien regarding obstruction and sudden death: If myectomy does in fact decrease the risk of SCD, does this not indicate then that the obstruction itself presented a specific SCD risk? Or does the myectomy simply resolve issues related to sudden death that are inherent to all HCM'ers, obstructed or not?
3.) It is my understanding that following a myectomy the electrical pathways through the septum are further disrupted by the surgery itself. I assume that this is why many patients experience rhythm disturbances after surgery which require pacing and/or an ICD, and in fact there are persons on the board here who did not receive ICD's until after they had undergone their myectomies. This being the case, how does this relate to the issue of sudden death? Given the changes made to the conducting tissues and the resulting rhythm problems, one would think that the risk of sudden death would actually increase post-myectomy rather than decrease. Please comment on this if possible.
Thanks,
Jim
Three questions:
1.) It has been mentioned previously on the board that following a myectomy your risk of sudden death decreases dramatically. Apparently this was discussed at the annual meeting and was included in a paper given by one of our specialists. Could you provide a specific reference to this material, whether it be from meeting notes or the actual study from which this finding has been derived? I have been unable to locate the source material myself.
2.) To address in part a question previously asked by Michael Obrien regarding obstruction and sudden death: If myectomy does in fact decrease the risk of SCD, does this not indicate then that the obstruction itself presented a specific SCD risk? Or does the myectomy simply resolve issues related to sudden death that are inherent to all HCM'ers, obstructed or not?
3.) It is my understanding that following a myectomy the electrical pathways through the septum are further disrupted by the surgery itself. I assume that this is why many patients experience rhythm disturbances after surgery which require pacing and/or an ICD, and in fact there are persons on the board here who did not receive ICD's until after they had undergone their myectomies. This being the case, how does this relate to the issue of sudden death? Given the changes made to the conducting tissues and the resulting rhythm problems, one would think that the risk of sudden death would actually increase post-myectomy rather than decrease. Please comment on this if possible.
Thanks,
Jim
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